What's up?

Soooo here's my first time posting to the blog in I don't even know how long!
Let's see what's new?
I got my dream puppy. Since I was 10 years old I've wanted a pug named Pickles. Don't ask why, I don't know. I was a strange little 10 year old. But anywho, I am now the proud owner of a pug named Pickles! He's pretty great. He has great taste in music. We listen to Mraz everynight before bed and he wiggles his head around and we play it in the car on the way to the vet and it relaxes him. Well, that and a belly rub.

I've had about 5 or 6 surgeries since I last wrote on here I think?
Of course the man has helped me thru those tough times. The surgeons put his pandora station on in the OR, I listen to him before and after, watch some youtube video's, concert DVD's, etc. I honestly think without his songs and just overall awesomeness I'd be kinda bummed out about all this. Instead of looking at it all as A Beautiful Mess. I mean, The Remedy is a big part of what helped me from being totally depressed on my 16th birthday in the hospital with pneumonia. Him and great family and friends of course. Turned out to be one of my best birthdays. I got 2 parties, one at the hospital and one when I got home, and double the presents from staff and family! And 2 free cakes! Can't beat that!
I also enjoyed making 2 of his super fans (who are staff there) freak out when I brought in my signed copy of LIAFLW. I got one of those 150 signed copies. I only got one because I was up late being real sick and well, mom was on the phone with dr.'s and packing for an emergency trip, and I was asking her for her paypal in order to get a signed copy. She thought I was crazy but hey I got one! Seriously everyone at my hospital knows my love for him so well. If I'm real out of it after surgery (this has happened more than once) one of my dr.'s will come and ask me Jason Mraz trivia to see how out of it I really am. Even all loopy I can answer em all!
This summer has been good! I had tons of fun participating in Spread Yes! So did my mom! This was my favorite thing I did. My moms brilliant idea!

I got to go see Jason and Jane in November! I also got to meet some of you lovelies for the first time! Jam after five years of talking I finally got to give you a big hug! I also got to give Philly a piece of art and poem that I've wanted him to have since I was 13! There's an art program at my hospital called Snow City Arts and I was hospitalized the week before my first concert, (I also put off surgery against dr.'s orders to go to my second mraz show. Oh the things I do for that man) they came to me with a project where you have to choose to be inside something and then write a poem about it. I chose to be inside J's hat! Cheesy I know but hey. Philly messaged me that he loved it! So naturally that's the highlight of the year. Picture and poem are below. Remember I was 13 so the poem is no Shakespear haha.

 MR.A-Z
I'm inside a hat but not just any hat people, the hat of Jason Mraz.
Inside his hat constantly plays his greatest songs such as "I'm Yours",
"Lucky" and many more.
It is ver bright and happy, filled with flowers and animals, and a lot of nature.
It is very hippy in here!

Well that's about it with me. Pugs and Mraz. What more could a girl need?

With love,
Dahlia

Stuff and things

Well Hello There!

A lot has been going on with me since the last time I posted (I don't even remember when that was....)
I am less then a year away from finishing an associates degree in Health Informatics... thinking about going to OIT (Oregon Institute of Technology) for a Bachelors Degree in Health Informatics.  It means more school.. but I don't want to end up working retail until I can hopefully retire someday. I see these older ladies at my current job so bitter about about everything. I do not want to end up being one of them.

Work is going really well. Last year I trained to do Customer Service and in September I learned how to do the bookkeeping. Checking is difficult for my anxiety and my introvert personality. I like working independently, yet still part of a team.  There is one person at work who is really getting on y nerves... I guess we all end up having that one person that makes you cringe when they talk to you. When he opens her mouth to talk.. all I hear are the parents from Charlie Brown. Trying to be calm and nice about it because she is one of those bitter ladies I was talking about.. but everything has to be about her.  She uses people to get a step up. I'm sorry.. she has thrown me under the bus many of times. It hasn't worked to her advantage, but the fact that she tries and then acts like  her poo doesn't stink.... no way. Argh!

My Anxiety is completely in control. I feel peaceful now.  I can function. I have my independence.  I finally feel like a normal, adult, functioning in society. 

Jym and I are in the process of the proper paperwork to get married.  Its easy, just a pain in the ass to wait around for it.  No wedding date yet, but I will be Mrs Stock by the end of next year.  Why couldn't he have been born in America... would have made my life easier. lol.

Saw Jason last month in Portland. IT WAS AWESOME. Didn't get to meet him because he left to go home right after the show.. but we did meet Mai, Becky and Tina. :) It was awesome.

Well, that is the latest!
-Amy

Time

I haven't posted to this blog since 2010...that was 4, soon to be 5 years ago! And so much has changed, it's still unbelievable for me to grasp it all. I'm not going to re-type how Jason touches/inspires me, you can read my old posts by searching "sedeechee" in the tags, or think of how Jason touches YOU, because it's the same for me, as with us all. So instead, I'll just write about me. Just me, plain and simple. Later on, I'll post about the magical and surreal experience of meeting Jason, but not tonight, there will be plenty of time for that later :) 

So an update: My name is Christine and I'm 24 years old and will be turning 25 in less than 1 month on 12/7. And I'm scared and upset at this. I'm halfway to 30 and my life has simply gone nowhere and I'm extremely unhappy. (This is going to start sounding depressing, so buckle in!)

I can't remember the last time I felt bliss...oh wait a minute! Yes I can, it was back in July when I met Jason and some of you incredible girls and I was on cloud nine. However, after that weekend, it was back to reality. Back to my lonely life near Scranton, Pennsylvania where I'm still living at home with my parents. And I'm unhappy. I don't have many friends left in this area, they've all moved away to start/continue their careers. The friends that ARE left here, I don't see very often because they're working, like myself, and making time for your social life sucks as an adult. I also feel lonely because I don't have a guy. And I know, I know, you don't NEED a man to be happy or feel fulfilled, but damn, it would be nice to have/feel security and companionship! And it's not like I haven't tried. I'm on Tinder, I've tried other dating sites(for maybe a week before I got creeped out/disgusted and I deleted it), and I'm just not compatible with anyone. [Side note: last time I wrote in here I was dating my ex-boyfriend in college who was going overseas with the Army and that's 1000000% DONE. I don't even speak to him anymore. Shortly after our official breakup in late 2012, he began dating a girl he met in one of his classes and they're still together to this day. Honestly, I'm happy for him. I think she's making him happier than I ever could, they seem very compatible together in all their adventures I see on Facebook >:) ] 

Deep down, I also DON'T want to meet anyone, because I NEED to leave home. 

Don't get me wrong, I'm THRILLED that I have a decent-paying, semi-in-my-field-of-work job! BUT it's not what I want to do with my life. I'm working, literally, 7 minutes from home and although that's a great thing, it's almost TOO great. For almost a year and a half, I've let myself settle in this convenient state of my life where I'm going through the motions "just because" and I'm going no where. It's getting to the point where as soon as my ass hits the chair at my desk in the morning,....I'm ready for it to be 5:00pm and I'm checking out. The day hasn't even started yet. And I used to like this job! I thought that the work I was doing was making a difference and I felt passionate to be productive and accomplished. But now there's nothing left and I KNOW that I need to move on. But how can I? With money. I need a LOT more money. 

The reason why I haven't moved out of my parents home, the reason why I don't have a boyfriend/relationship, is because I can't afford it...yet. I should have been more responsible and started saving earlier. But I didn't and here I still am. I really am starting to save more and I've estimated that I can move out of here comfortably around the Spring/Summer 2015, God willing I can find a job! Which leads me back to friends. 

The friends, my "family" that I had in 2010 when I last wrote are all still the same...and living 4 hours from me. My college friends are living in/around Baltimore, Maryland and I go to visit them about once a season. I was just there in early September and every time I go, I feel "complete." I know it kind of sounds cheesy, but it's true. My heart is lighter. I laugh and I smile because they bring out the best in me and I'm HAPPY. I love the area, and it's affordable to live there if I continue to play my cards right. I could get into this further, but I'll stop here. For now, my main focus is to keep saving enough money to move away and start my career the way I want it to be and to be HAPPY. 

The final reason for my unhappiness: my weight. I've struggled with my weight all my life. We all have, it's just what females do/think. I know it SHOULDN'T be this way, but when I can't fit into last season's blouses for work, and my bra band barely latches...I have a problem.

I think it all started with taking this new job at a desk. I used to work in a grocery store, constantly on my feet and walking/bustling around so that kept the weight off. Now I'm just a bum that sits all day. Earlier this Summer, I had started the Nutrisystem diet. And it was working! I was on it about 2 months and I was taking my dogs for walks and running on the treadmill. But then my sister became critically ill. She was in multiple hospitals since July and only FINALLY was discharged and returned home at the end of October. During her admissions, I fell off the wagon due to stress and the timing just wasn't right to keep on the diet and fit in exercise. Now that she's home and healthy, I jumped back on this diet wagon with full force. I'm tired of being unhappy, I'm exhausted from being discouraged from buying cute clothes at the mall that I know ahead of time won't fit me, I'm fed up with not feeling sexy anymore. I NEED change. 

IN CONCLUSION! How this alllllll ties into each other and everything comes full circle!: Jason has taught me positivity. Because throughout everything, including this super long post about my unhappiness, I really AM happy. I'm GRATEFUL that I HAVE a job, that I am HEALTHY, and that I DO have friends and family who love me. Since following Jason and listening to his music all these years has transformed my attitude, demeanor, and outlook on my life and those around me. If I never found Jason, if I never found you guys, I don't know what kind of person I would be and that's terrifying to think about. Jason has made me a better person, even if it doesn't show all the time, his influence is always, and always will be, a part of me.

Warmest love and wishes, 

Christine<3

P.S. If you read this whole thing, bless you.

--

Christine DiChiara

Marketing Coordinator for CareGivers America

Freelance Graphic Designer

www.caregiversamerica.com 

www.behance.net/cdichiara

Slavery sucks!

Hey mrazwomen, i've been thinking about things to share in this blog and as I am so focused on my final paper at college i can't think about anything else. But the fact is that it was Jason who inspired me to pick my subject Slavery! Yes, my final paper is about Slavery in farms all over my country(Brasil) and ways of ending it, through the law.

I've been searching the subject for all those years, since Jason first talked about it, when he was engaged to Free The Slaves and all, when he first sang "Freedom Song" to those former slave kids in Ghana.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/2D9XN1Hzjas" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

"Freedom

You deserve your freedom

Dancing and feeling that beauty

Freedom

Well it's all for you

All for you, all for you, all for you

Sing FREEDOM" ~ Freedom Song

Recently Free The Slaves started to work with two very important organizations in Brazil who works hard to end slavery for a very long time and also fight for punishing those who enslave people: CPT (Comissão Pastoral da Terra, linked to the catholic church) and Reporter Brazil, both used as a sources to my studies.

Well, i'm so happy with where my final paper is going, it's almost finishes and i'm really thinking about inviting as many people as i can to watch it, so i can spread the message to the biggest amount of people. I feel like it's my moment to help informing people about this horrible crime that keep happening in our world nowadays. It's so sad to know that for buying the wood for my furniture, a man has been kept as a slave, working in very bad conditions, drinking contaminated water, sleeping in a very bad facilities.  And the worst thing is knowing that many people think that slavery doesn't exist anymore, or had been made to think that cause it's easy that way, but it make invisible the suffering of those who had been in that situation. And it's even worse to know that many people take advantage of the lack of knowledge about the subjet to decieve people and pretend that this felony doesn't exist and people who fight against it are crazy to believe in a thing that they call an "invention created to end capitalism".

In Brazil, an amendment of the Constitution added the loss of the property in wich they find workers in slavery conditions, it was approved this year and it's the final part of my work. I'm happy that we made it so far, it's a big step, but there are forces against it, forces that will do it's possible for making the amendment useless, and take away it's power, forces that take advantage of the suffering of those workers and that didn't like the fact that they might lose their land if they find that they are enslaving people.

I just want to thank Jason Thomas Mraz for being such an inspiring figure and for introducing me to such an important thing to fight against. 

Love,
Ana Diegues.